For the moment I have flagged the question as spam, but I note that I am the only one to have done so. What say you? Is this cause to invoke a stronger mechanism than the usual close-n-delete gang, or have I over-reacted?

Just for the record (but not that I perceive this as criticism), I summarily deleted the second post because the poster explicitly stated that they knew it was a dupe ("Yes, someone closed it last time so i'm asking again") and not because it was humorous. I do still have a sense of humor, and I usually just let the community decisions stand on these questions.
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Bill the LizardJan 24 '10 at 5:28

1

@Bill: Understood. I was noting that you were aware of the first question, and didn't feel a need to act.
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dmckeeJan 24 '10 at 16:53

@dmckee: The original was already closed when I saw it, so I didn't touch it. I don't normally like to delete posts that are less than 2 or 3 days old, even if they're closed quickly. I think most posts deserve a grace period where the OP can edit and the community can vote to reopen (or close) without moderator interference. Of course there are exceptions to that rule, but I didn't think this particular question was so outrageously offensive that it deserved immediate deletion. It's deleted now, so I may have erred on the side of caution.
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Bill the LizardJan 24 '10 at 17:34

FWIW, it seems the poster of this question was a sock puppet and is now deleted (though I have no idea how forceful that was), and I have little patience for those who purposefully circumvent the system to do what they apparently recognize as wrong in the first place. Something more than just regular closing definitely seems appropriate in that case; the only options available for that, currently, are flagging for moderator attention, flagging as spam/offensive, and posting on Meta, none of which seem too harsh to me.
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GnomeJun 11 '10 at 21:24

I'd probably close it as subjective and argumentative. It's certainly subjective - a compiler is a state machine. It is impossible to insult a state machine, therefore the whether input is derogatory or not is completely subjective based on what human is reading the code. Argumentative because the author insists compilers should be treated as having feelings, and argues essentially a religious viewpoint. We cannot prove or disprove his point because he's not giving objective ways to measure compiler unhappiness.

Is this cause to invoke a stronger mechanism than the usual close-n-delete gang, or have I over-reacted?

Maybe we need a second experience measurement to help identify what is funny? Like a second mechanism to upvote and downvote funnyness. I think funnyordie.com does this, maybe this is a good market that StackOverflow should be going after?

You have such wonderful ideas. Since StackOverflow doesn't seem to be willing to move in that direction, I'm thinking you might want to jump on that idea yourself. Go to stackexchange and set up your own site with the intent of growing the audience you really want to see - It's free during beta, and for 45 days after it leaves beta. I'm sure with your ideas you can make such a site profitable!
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Adam DavisJan 23 '10 at 23:40